PM Orban: Romanian administration and gov't have moved very fast with measures to support economy

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban stated that the administration and the government have moved "very fast" with the measures meant to support the economy, like the facilities granted to the employees and employers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic generated crisis.

"I know what measures were taken in the European countries, the pace at which they were adopted, how they were transposed into normative and how fast they were implemented. I can tell you that the Romanian administration and government moved very fast and, of course, even if the money did not reach all the beneficiaries yet, they will, all the citizens will be able to benefit from the facilities that were granted to them," Ludovic Orban told Antena 3 private television broadcaster on Friday when asked about the fact that other European states, such as France, took measures to support the economy earlier, compared with Romania.

He said that, for instance, the Government in Bucharest granted a facility that no other European state granted, namely "the possibility to benefit from the bonus for the payment of local taxes and fees after March 31 and until June 30."

"We have provided facilities to companies related to their payment of taxes. We have also increased the speed of VAT refund, which was also felt in the increase of companies' liquidity. Anyone who says that he did not benefit from support from the Romanian Government does not say things which are rigorously accurate and, in any case, all the measures will be operationalized, and during this time we are also preparing other economic measures, economic measures that will support the economic recovery after returning to a state of normalcy," said Orban.

The Prime Minister also referred to the manner of granting emergency certificates and to the processing of requests for payment of furloughed employees.

"We had to adapt at a lightning speed. You must think that the emergency certificates were issued online with a processing speed of minutes, all requests made by the employers for the payment of the furloughed employees were made and requests processed online, and very fast. Also, the requests filed by the authorized individuals, by professionals defined in accordance with the Civil Code, have been processed online. "We have put all these things in place at a pace that I believe a government or any administration has never had in terms of the operationalization of procedures meant to help the people," said Orban.